Recreational and Sports Programmes

To promote the concept of sport for all and encourage people to participate in regular recreational and sports activities, the Department organises a wide variety of training courses, recreational activities, sports programmes and competitions through the District Leisure Services Offices. Major events and territory-wide projects include the Corporate Games and the Masters Games. Target groups include older persons and persons with disabilities.

In 2006, the Department organised 29 100 community recreational and sports activities for more than 1 780 000 participants of all ages and abilities, at a cost of approximately $99 million.

Healthy Exercise for All Campaign

Enhancing public interest in sports activities and encouraging the pursuit of a healthy lifestyle through regular physical exercise are on-going missions for the Department. In conjunction with the Department of Health, the Healthy Exercise for All Campaign was launched in April 2000. In 2006, activities that were organised in the 18 districts to disseminate the campaign's message included fitness programmes for children, persons with disabilities and older persons; hiking and quali-walk schemes; Dance for Health programmes; rope skipping activities; and a series of roving exhibitions on exercise and health. The response to the campaign was encouraging, with 77 000 people taking part in 1 350 activities.

Regular promotional activities are held to encourage the public to do more exercise.

To help promote the campaign, 33 top athletes were appointed Healthy Exercise Ambassadors and health education and physical exercise-related materials were produced in the form of videotapes, VCDs, leaflets and booklets, and uploaded onto a specially designed webpage.

In addition, a 30-second film to encourage the general public to adopt a healthy lifestyle was produced in conjunction with the Department of Health and has been broadcast on local TV channels since early August 2006.

To further promote the campaign and motivate members of the public to do exercise on a daily basis, the LCSD and Department of Health joined hands together to develop the programme My Exercise Diary, a scheme through which members of the public would be encouraged to sign a Charter to promise to participate in sports activities. A series of Exercise Appointments including jogging and yoga workshops, hiking fun days, exercise and health seminars and a sports carnival were organised for Charter signatories. In late 2005, the first ever Physical Fitness Test for the Community (the Test) was launched with the aims of enabling Hong Kong people to have a general understanding of their fitness condition, to set up a database on the physical fitness of Hong Kong people, to identify the relationship between physical exercise patterns and the physical fitness of Hong Kong people, and to identify priority areas for improvement to enhance the overall physical fitness of the community. The database has over 6 000 sets of completed data. In September 2006, the overall findings and recommendations of the Test were announced at a press conference and the full report was sent to the relevant stakeholders for reference. The data collected were further analysed on a district basis and distributed to the respective District Councils for reference and the planning of suitable recreation and sports activities for their residents.

Over 1 000 members of the public join with the officiating guests at the Launch Ceremony cum Exercise Charter Signing Day of My Exercise Diary held at the Harbour Road Sports Centre to take the pledge to do exercise on a daily basis.

School Sports Programme

The School Sports Programme (SSP) is organised in partnership with the NSAs and the Education and Manpower Bureau. The programme aims to provide opportunities for students to participate in more sports and to raise the standard of sports in primary, secondary and special schools.

Activities encompass the Sport Education Programme, Easy Sport Programme, Outreach Coaching Programme, Sport Captain Programme, Joint Schools Sports Training Programme, Badges Award Scheme and, the sportACT Award Scheme which was newly introduced in October 2006. In 2006, 32 NSAs joined the SSP and organised over 7 000 sports activities for about 500 000 students.

Primary school students show their agility and skills in an inter-school Easy Sport Squash Competition.

Students together with their coach demonstrate martial arts feats at a martial arts performance under the Outreach Coaching Programme.

Community Sports Club Project

Broadening the base of sports development in Hong Kong and improving the standard of sports at the community level are the aims of the Community Sports Club (CSC) Project. The project promotes and strengthens the development of young people, encourages lifelong participation in sports and attracts volunteers.

Community Sports Clubs are provided with technical and financial support to organise sports development programmes. Seminars, training courses and workshops are also arranged to enhance the managerial and technical knowledge of the members. A total of 28 NSAs and 290 CSCs have joined the Project. In 2006, 1 700 CSC projects were organised with subsidies from the Department, attracting 38 000 participants.

A team-building seminar to better equip members of Community Sports Clubs with essential skills in organising sports development programmes.

Tennis courses are provided by Community Sports Clubs to enhance the standard of sports at the community level.

District Sports Teams Training Scheme

To generate community interest in sport, each of the 18 districts set up its own football, basketball, handball and volleyball teams with the support of the respective NSAs. More than 11 500 people enrolled in the district teams and took part in over 260 training activities and inter-district competitions held throughout the year.

Football players compete against each other in an inter-district football competition.

Young Athletes Training Scheme

The main objective of the Young Athletes Training Scheme (YATS) is to enhance training for young people in different sports at the district level in the hope that talented athletes will be identified and referred to the NSAs for further training. The outstanding athletes can then be selected to join national youth squads to represent Hong Kong in international sporting events.

Budding fencing athletes are identified in a screening test for further training under the Young Athletes Training Scheme.

In 2006, 20 sports were included in the YATS, for which around 800 activities were organised, attracting 26 700 youngsters. In total, 183 talented young athletes were referred to NSAs for further training.

Masters Games

The Masters Games aims to inspire people aged 35 and over to maintain their physical and mental health through sports, and to offer participants the opportunity to compete against people of a similar age to sustain their interest in sports activities. The Games included 10 events with a total of 4 500 participants.

Dynamic equilibrium — elderly practitioners participate in a Tai Chi Competition at the Masters Games.

Players face off in a table tennis competition at the Masters Games.

Corporate Games

The Corporate Games is a major sports promotional activity for employers and employees in local industrial and commercial sectors, and public organisations. It aims to encourage people to exercise regularly and to promote team spirit and a stronger sense of belonging to their organisations amongst employees through participation in competitive sports activities.

The Corporate Games 2006 was held from October 2006 to January 2007, and included 14 competitive events at various recreational venues throughout Hong Kong. The Games attracted more than 8 700 participants from nearly 290 organisations.

Healthy Elderly Scheme

The Healthy Elderly Scheme was launched in 2003 to promote healthy living for elderly people. The Scheme provides free recreational and sports programmes at sports centres during non-peak hours on weekdays. About 700 free programmes were organised for the elderly in 2006.

Bun Carnival

The Bun Scrambling Event was revived in 2005. This unique traditional activity of the Cheung Chau Bun Festival had been suspended for 26 years after the collapse of a bun tower in 1978. With the support of local organisations, the Department explored the related safety measures and resolved technical difficulties with the relevant works departments and professional organisations, and arranged to conduct the event jointly with the Hong Kong Cheung Chau Bun Festival Committee in a safe and orderly manner.

The 2006 Bun Carnival was staged from April 22 to May 6 at Pak Tai Temple Playground in Cheung Chau. To make the activity more appealing, new programmes including the Bun Tower Climbing Challenge and the Invitation Relay for the Bun Scrambling Competition were introduced. The programmes were well received by the community, and attracted more than 6 000 participants and tens of thousands of local and overseas spectators. The highlight of the Carnival — the Bun Scrambling Competition — attracted extensive coverage from the local and international media and has become the talk of the town.

The bun tower lights up as the Bun Scrambling Competition comes to a fruitful end in the wee hours of May 6.

Sand Sculpture Exchange Programme

From August 4 to 7, a sand sculpture team comprising five members was sent from Hong Kong to participate in the Hioki City International Sand Art Festival in Kagoshima, Japan.

On December 17, the Tuen Mun District Sand Sculpture Competition with the Sand Sculpture Exchange Programme was held at Golden Beach. Sand sculptors from Kagoshima were invited to demonstrate their extraordinary creativity and skills. The event attracted local participants in four divisions — primary school, secondary school, open and disabled. More than 1 000 spectators attended the highly entertaining programme.

The work entitled 'Angel's Tear' by the male team wins the overall championship award in the Tuen Mun District Sand Sculpture Competition at Golden Beach.

'Living, as one, with nature', the work by the sand sculpture team representing Hioki City, Kagoshima.